last year was just the handicapped edition. this year was both open and handicapped. i can't remember if it was greenwell or crazy but one of them kept saying they were in california. i'll take crazy and greenwell not knowing where they are over billy crump. overall, the coverage was good this year.

Greenwell and Crazy kept saying during the DGP broadcast that the USDGC is the "premiere event in professional disc golf." It has a great payout, but I have a very difficult time buying this as the "premiere event," for many reasons:1) A World Championship is obviously bigger/greater than just a US championship. Worlds is the big one, by its very definition.2) The competition takes place at only one course, every time, and every single day of the competition. The entire affair, from year-to-year, round-to-round, etc, is limited to only 18 holes. It is a great course, but only 18 holes? Seriously?3) Invitation-only will inevitably leave out competitors who could win the event if they competed. Worlds casts a much broader net.4) No women. This should be called the USMDGC (M=Men's).

We have been thinking about putting together a new major event, which would be invite-only (and/or 1000-rated-only), no registration fee, travel costs of players fully supported, $100K purse, etc.. For a field of ~100 players, an annual budget of between $150K-200K would be required.

JHern wrote:Greenwell and Crazy kept saying during the DGP broadcast that the USDGC is the "premiere event in professional disc golf." It has a great payout, but I have a very difficult time buying this as the "premiere event," for many reasons:1) A World Championship is obviously bigger/greater than just a US championship. Worlds is the big one, by its very definition.2) The competition takes place at only one course, every time, and every single day of the competition. The entire affair, from year-to-year, round-to-round, etc, is limited to only 18 holes. It is a great course, but only 18 holes? Seriously?3) Invitation-only will inevitably leave out competitors who could win the event if they competed. Worlds casts a much broader net.4) No women. This should be called the USMDGC (M=Men's).

We have been thinking about putting together a new major event, which would be invite-only (and/or 1000-rated-only), no registration fee, travel costs of players fully supported, $100K purse, etc.. For a field of ~100 players, an annual budget of between $150K-200K would be required.

greenwell is kind of obligated to say it's still the premiere event because he represents innova. not sure why crazy says it is. maybe it's out of loyalty and tradition, i don't know.

knocking the event because it takes place on one course is debatable. the course allows spectating and is close to innova's east office. it's easier for them to organize the event in their backyard with people they have been working with. the course does change from year to year and it's a testing ground for new rules.the clown's mouth is gone. stroke and distance came and went.

the usdgc used to include women. the women's world champ of that year used to receive an invite that remained standing. val jenkins was there in 10, 09, 08, and 07. des played in 06, 05, and 04. des had the best finish between the two coming in 95th place. no women in the open flight this year because of the invite process. only non-protected open division tournaments, men's open division, counted towards an invitation. unless if you were in the top 20 in 2010's usdgc, than you received an automatic invite. http://www.usdgc.com/wp-content/uploads ... 7.5.12.pdf

the usdgc is the premiere event of disc golf because it has the biggest payout, despite the payout dropping, and is invite only. in 09, the usdgc was 35% of nikko's winnings and i'm sure it helped pay for his prius. despite playing poorly due to injury, the usdgc was still ~12% of his winnings this year and his biggest tournament paycheck. the invite only part in the past was wonky. there were sponsorship invites, state pdga rep invites, and other ways to get into the tournament besides qualifying on merit. nobody that has won the usdgc got in through an non-merit invite. innova biffed the premier title in 2011 by not having a cash prize usdgc. according to jonathan poole, innova was losing money holding the event and it was a logistical nightmare heavily relying on volunteers. that's why it changed formats.

there is a gap for a new premiere event to fill in for the usdgc. i don't know who would want to sink 150-200k into one tournament if the leading manufacturer in the sport doesn't. if innova doesn't see enough return on their investment in the usdgc, why would somebody else want to drop a bunch of money to make the top 100 disc golfers happy? a massive paradigm shift needs to occur to get people to pay money to watch disc golf or for sponsors to see a return on paying to have their ads in-front of an audience for disc golf to be a sustainable career for more than a handful of people. until then, professional disc golf is just a gypsy gambling tour inflated by weekend warriors donating to open pools and sponsorship money coming from the free labor of dedicated people setting up the tour.

Despite a smaller total purse and first place prize, the amount Innova added to the purse went up $4000 from $33,000 in 2010 to $37,250 which amounted to more than $640 cash added per Open player entered this year.

Juliana Korver and Angela Tschiggfrie played in the tourney. Juliana is still the only woman ever to cash in the USDGC. I believe the USWDGC winner gets an invite also. There WERE a few women playing in the performance flight this year.

Chuck Kennedy wrote:Despite a smaller total purse and first place prize, the amount Innova added to the purse went up $4000 from $33,000 in 2010 to $37,250 which amounted to more than $640 cash added per Open player entered this year.

did any of the extra $4,000 innova paid to the pros come from the performance flight? there was $7,100 in cash paid by the performance flight. the link to the performance flight results on the pdga site takes you directly to usdgc's site and has no payout information. also there is hefty list of sponsor to help innova with that extra 4,000. http://www.usdgc.com/our-sponsors

Star Shark wrote:Juliana Korver and Angela Tschiggfrie played in the tourney. Juliana is still the only woman ever to cash in the USDGC. I believe the USWDGC winner gets an invite also. There WERE a few women playing in the performance flight this year.

Section 6. Special Invitations The following people will become eligible for entry following the completion of each respective event. Special invitation positions are guaranteed for 30 days after the event. 2009 Women’s United States Champion (Open) 2010 United States Amateur Champion (Men’s Advanced) 2010 Women’s World Champion (Open) 2010 Masters World Champion 2010 Grand Masters World Champion 2010 Amateur World Champion (Men’s Advanced) 2010 Regional & Global Qualifier Tournament Directors Note: Tournament Director exemptions may be assigned to a co-tournament director if approved by both the listed tournament director and the USDGC Organizing committee. Tournament directors should contact the USDGC office as soon as possible if they wish to transfer their position.

JHern wrote:Greenwell and Crazy kept saying during the DGP broadcast that the USDGC is the "premiere event in professional disc golf." It has a great payout, but I have a very difficult time buying this as the "premiere event," for many reasons:1) A World Championship is obviously bigger/greater than just a US championship. Worlds is the big one, by its very definition.2) The competition takes place at only one course, every time, and every single day of the competition. The entire affair, from year-to-year, round-to-round, etc, is limited to only 18 holes. It is a great course, but only 18 holes? Seriously?3) Invitation-only will inevitably leave out competitors who could win the event if they competed. Worlds casts a much broader net.4) No women. This should be called the USMDGC (M=Men's)..